CAIRO – Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday and handed power to the military.

"The people ousted the regime," rang out chants from crowds of hundreds of thousands massed in Cairo's central Tahrir Square and outside Mubarak's main palace several miles away in a northern district of the capital.

The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country burst into pandemonium. They danced, chanted "goodbye, goodbye," and raised their hands in prayer as fireworks and car horns sounded after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall...

A credible theory is Mubarak stepped down because the army stopped supporting him, and the army may well choose the next leader. It seems to me a good possibility is that Egypt gets a more popular dictator rather than a democratically elected leader. The country is now being run by the Armed Forces Supreme Council---that doesn't sound good. Maybe it will turn out that they do become a representative democracy, but I'm skeptical.

Then again, I thought the Egyptians would probably crush the protests the way the Iranians did, so what do I know?

Logged

"The basic plot is that Donna Speir and Hope Marie Carlton, the two undercover DEA agent Playboy Playmates from the last movie, are still running around in jungle shorts, cowboy boots and spaghetti strap T-shirts, firing their machine guns at drug smugglers, Filipino communist guerrillas, and corrupt federal agents while their two friends, Lisa London and Miss May 1984 Patty Duffek, lounge around the pool a lot and talk on speaker phones that look like fax machines."-Joe Bob on SAVAGE BEACH

well, In Iran ahmednejad has a well of support, mostly among the sort of red staters there, the country folk and the working classes, not all of them but alot of them. Mubarak had zero popular support.

I hope that the people of Egypt will elect a progressive, democratic government.But frankly, I give it a snowball's chance. They will most likely elect a radical Islamist. Most recent opinion polls in Egypt, conducted by Pew, show that 84% favor the death penalty for anyone converting away from Islam, 70% favor thieves having their hands cut off, and over 70% favor segregation of men and womein in the workplace. Long story short, these people seem to want Sharia Law established and Radical Islamists to enforce it. That means another terror-sponsoring, Christian-hating, uncivilized country full of barbarians with billions of dollars worth of sophisticated military equipment.

Lester, Radical Islam is the most evil philosophy current in the world today. The ARE the Nazis of the 21st century. I don't get why you can't understand that.

My most passionate and fervent hope is that I am wrong in everything that I wrote above. But TRUE democratic societies - ones that respect the rights of women and religious minorities, and don't sponsor international terrorism - have a crappy track record of forming in the Middle East. I hate to rain on the parade, but I call em like I see em.

Indianasmith, what you talk about as radical islam is exactly what the far right and the teabaggers want to do to america, except instead of an islmaofascist nation they'd like to turn america into a christianofascist nation.

As to the egypt situation, here's a funny cartoon that really sums it up. To see it replace the --- at the beginning with www

But TRUE democratic societies - ones that respect the rights of women and religious minorities, and don't sponsor international terrorism - have a crappy track record of forming in the Middle East. I hate to rain on the parade, but I call em like I see em.

Maybe you should hope for a leader like Jordan's kings. Probably the closest thing we've seen to benevolent dictators in recent times. Their past four kings have led a country with extreme religious elements in a very progressive direction, generally quite successfully.

I doubt what Egypt comes up with could be worse than Saudi Arabia who are THE biggest sponsors of terror ever and have pretty much no rights for women or religous minorities. I don't see how that would even be possible, unless they created a garment for women which they could not see out of AT ALL. So the bar is very low here.

Lester, Radical Islam is the most evil philosophy current in the world today. The ARE the Nazis of the 21st century. I don't get why you can't understand that.

I know, Indy.

Also, why is it that people on Hollywood's "A" list and the old hens on "The View"(for starters) always show sympathy and support for Islamic extremists, fully ignorant of the fact that their support is nothing but a tool, and that they themselves are just as much a target for their anger and hatred?

They don't see that they are just as much a target as any one of us.

Does anyone think the World Trade Center would have been spared if they knew MichaelMoore or O' Donnell were in them (or in Moore's case, on TOP of the WTC fighting off National Guard choppers and planes?) Hell no.

Indianasmith, what you talk about as radical islam is exactly what the far right and the teabaggers want to do to america, except instead of an islmaofascist nation they'd like to turn america into a christianofascist nation.

As to the egypt situation, here's a funny cartoon that really sums it up. To see it replace the --- at the beginning with www

As a Republican and a Christian and a Tea Party supporter, I call BS on that. I have been in the church my entire life and I have yet to meet a Christian who wants to stone anyone to death, cut anyone's hand off, or murder anyone for abandoning Christianity. Have you ever actually ATTENDED a Tea Party rally? Of course not. You just grab the liberal talking points and go play the "moral equivalency" game! Let me ask you this - how many Baptist suicide bombers have blown up buses or busy marketplaces in the last year? When was the last time a Presbyterian flew a jumbo jet into a skyscraper, or a Pentecostal drove a truck full of explosives into a police station? Your comment simply exposes you for the knee-jerk Christian hater that you are!

Indianasmith, what you talk about as radical islam is exactly what the far right and the teabaggers want to do to america, except instead of an islmaofascist nation they'd like to turn america into a christianofascist nation.

As to the egypt situation, here's a funny cartoon that really sums it up. To see it replace the --- at the beginning with www

As a Republican and a Christian and a Tea Party supporter, I call BS on that. I have been in the church my entire life and I have yet to meet a Christian who wants to stone anyone to death, cut anyone's hand off, or murder anyone for abandoning Christianity. Have you ever actually ATTENDED a Tea Party rally? Of course not. You just grab the liberal talking points and go play the "moral equivalency" game! Let me ask you this - how many Baptist suicide bombers have blown up buses or busy marketplaces in the last year? When was the last time a Presbyterian flew a jumbo jet into a skyscraper, or a Pentecostal drove a truck full of explosives into a police station? Your comment simply exposes you for the knee-jerk Christian hater that you are!

Seems that some of the hatred the Left points at the Right seems to see them excuse some of their own actions: you have the threats against Sarah Palin, the attacks upon Anne Coulter, the effigies of Palin and McCain hung by the neck during the elections, and so on. Anyone remember junior Democrat Timothy Horrigan's facebook rant about Sarah Palin?

Then there was the one Keith Olbermann show where he and Jeanine Giraffe-a**hole went on a half hour of vile innuendos, suppositions, and alternate phrase words to describe the Tea Party and Conservatives in general on everything from their birth to their sexual preferences.

Seems THAT'S ok, right? But let's not forget that if a conservative did any these things, the Left and the Media would have a field day as everyone from Chris Matthews to the losers on The View would be speaking hatred and violent extremism.

It's free speech when the Left antagonizes, threatens and screams down their opponents, but it's extremism when the right does it.